Dibben drug case ends in plea deal

Suspended imposition of sentence granted

Feb. 12, 2013

Travis Dibben

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A man who embarrassed Springfield city staff after receiving a city loan — then getting arrested and charged with selling cocaine to an undercover officer — pleaded guilty Monday morning.

According to a plea deal, Travis Dibben, 31, admitted to a single felony charge of drug distribution and agreed to a suspended imposition of sentence. That means the case will be closed and not count as a conviction if he successfully completes five years of probation and 120 days in a drug treatment correctional facility.

This is the fourth time Dibben has been granted an SIS for a Greene County crime.

Since 2006, he has also pleaded guilty to theft, receiving stolen property and passing bad checks, according to online court records.

It is unclear how the plea will affect Dibben’s previous plans to build a comedy club in downtown’s College Station. Construction ceased abruptly after he was charged Oct. 26, 2011 with selling cocaine to an undercover officer.

It is also unclear how it will affect Dibben’s loan agreement with the city of Springfield. He had used about half of a $95,000 business incentive loan when he was charged. City officials called the loan due immediately but later said they would allow the drug case to play out in court before taking further action.

On the advice of his attorney, Stuart Huffman, Dibben declined to comment after the hearing.

Huffman did say he advised Dibben it would be in his best interest to plead guilty.

Huffman pointed to his own previous assertions that the state’s case had serious flaws. The fact that a defendant with prior offenses was offered an SIS is “very rare,” Huffman said.

Throughout the case, Huffman argued there were significant discrepancies between what the undercover officer said happened and what could be heard on a recording of the alleged buy.

Assistant Prosecutor Ben McBride declined to address that claim.

He did say: “Under the circumstances of this case, the plea was the most fair and just result that we could have reached.”

During the hearing, McBride listed the facts the state would have proven if the case had gone to trial.

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• On March 3, 2010, a confidential informant set up a drug deal between an undercover officer and “the Dibben brothers.” Tyler Dibben was sentenced earlier this month to a charge stemming from the same incident.

• In the back of a limousine, the undercover officer tried to hand Travis Dibben $220. Travis Dibben said, “hand it to Tyler.”

• At the end of the deal, Travis Dibben told the informant and the undercover officer to get in touch with him if they ever wanted to rent a limousine. The informant and the undercover took that to mean to contact him if they wanted to buy more cocaine.

The law says that being a party to a drug buy can carry the same consequence as selling the drug.

“How do you plead?” asked Judge Dan Conklin.

“Guilty, sir,” Travis Dibben replied.

“Because you are guilty?” Conklin asked.

“Yes, sir,” Dibben said.

With Monday’s agreement, Dibben avoids a prison sentence that could have been as long as 30 years — because of his previous guilty pleas, he faced an extended sentence.

Dibben still has one outstanding felony charge — failing to pay child support for a year or more.

A sentencing hearing in the drug case has been scheduled for May 10. After which, Dibben will be taken into custody for a 120-day substance abuse treatment in a Missouri Department of Corrections facility.

City to discuss next step in Dibben loan

Springfield city officials say they will soon convene a meeting to decide what to do in regard to an outstanding city loan awarded to Travis Dibben before he was charged with drug distribution. City spokeswoman Cora Scott said Monday the meeting has not yet been scheduled but it was “a priority.” Dibben received $44,221 of a $95,000 loan to help finance Nine of Clubs, a comedy club he intended to open downtown in College Station. The city initially called the loan due immediately after learning of the drug charge but opted to postpone further action until the conclusion of the case. Scott said it was possible city officials would delay action until after Dibben’s sentencing May 10. Because of Dibben’s case, city officials to investigated and, as a result, overhauled the city's loan practices. They concluded that loan officers had no way of knowing of the alleged drug buy from March 2010 but said that other criminal and civil cases in Dibben's past should have been investigated more thoroughly.